It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas

First Post of the Day

For some reason, this year I am getting my holiday decorations up quickly and much more easily than I usually do. Why? No idea. But I am enjoying feeling well enough to be hauling tubs downstairs and making my home look Christmassy.

I always begin the day after Thanksgiving with the front porch. It's not a lot, but it is enough to make me feel the holiday spirit.

My red mini me Short and Sweet arrived and after shooting some pics, I decided to leave all the candy stripers out, at least for a while.

My sisters were also decorating their homes. When I saw Jenny's tree, I knew I had found our new tree. I loved how her collection of antique ornaments could be seen so well from this giant ornament tree. And, that they were far less likely to slide off a flimsy branch and break.

So I ordered my own. It arrived yesterday and it was quick and easy for me to assemble.

This one has lights but that's today's project.

I sure wish I could also copy Leslie's outdoor gate decor, too.

Her farm is so pretty in the snow.

The greenery is on the player piano and my mother's nativity will go on top when Lisa comes over. (We always do that together.) The ornaments will go on my new ornament tree after I get the lights on it.

A painting that my mom did as her father's Christmas gift dated 1944, another nativity, a pink candy cane box that Sarah made me years ago (note to self: replenish those candy canes!), a mini ceramic tree made by my mother, and my favorite childhood ornament, the "pink ornament" as it is called. Oh, and I have turned the pillars between the dining and living rooms into giant candy canes.

Chrismas mugs made by my mom, a Christmas train from Lisa, and two snow people that Cambria made us last Christmas. Nearly everything I put out in our home has sentimental significance.

I made this tablecloth when the kids were little. Its colors are fading, but it still gets put out. A mini ornament tree is on the table with the ornaments from my childhood that my kids surprised me with last Mother's Day.

The dining room piano's decor. I always open the hymnal to Christmas songs this time of year. Right now my favorite is up - O, Come All Ye Faithful.

My dad made the ornament tree for me early in our marriage and is considered a family heirloom. (He loved Christmas!) The German nativity was something Craig bought the family years ago - another family heirloom.

The nutcrackers are also a gift from Dad, the Swedish Yule goat is a gift from Emily that she brought back from her year in Sweden (she is half Swedish/half Canadian), a wooden reindeer from Jessica, and two nativities from my mother.

I still have things to put out, but like I said, it is going quickly and easily. 

Finally, our neighborhood rock fairy posted a sneak peak of his or her holiday rocks. These will be hidden around our neighborhood as gifts to the lucky finders.

Aren't they pretty? I hope I find one but honestly, I already have three so unless it's placed on my mailbox or park bench and obviously meant for me, I will probably leave it for someone else to have.

I plan to write a second post this morning with today's Yuletide Challenge pictures, but I've got Nash and Mama coming for the day and need to run to the vet and then to Meijer. If it's not up by noon Eastern time, I'll bump it to tomorrow.

Stay 'tooned!

Yuletide Photo Challenge - December 3

Today's topic is Cotton-Headed Ninny Muggins: a purchase you made on a whim. Been there more than once, but the model featured here is the one piece in my collection that I regret buying the most. 

(Although, looking again at the prompt, it says nothing about it being something you regret. It could be something you bought on a whim and then discovered you'd hit the jackpot.)

People who know my collecting habits know that I have a fairly large collection-within-a-collection of circus horses and ponies. And it is not unusual for people to direct me to ones they've found on eBay, Mercari, Facebook Marketplace, and elsewhere. Today's model is one of those.

This misshapen porcelain piece by Enesco is my Cotton-headed Ninny Muggin purchase. I'll be honest, when I unwrapped it from all its bubble wrap and toilet paper mummification, I thought, "Oh, gosh. What have I bought? This is awful!"

You can read the original post that I wrote when it arrived here: https://horsiemama.blogspot.com/2021/07/circus-time-enesco-circus-horse.html. Several  people posted comments back then that they loved this piece and thought it was cute. Not me.

All I could see was that giraffe neck topped with a scraggly feather

and a faded pink satin bow on the tail.

It actually has a companion piece, one that I have not gone looking for.

It reminded me initially of Poppy, the Performing Pony produced by Cybis

and I wrote a comparison post of this piece to Poppy here: https://horsiemama.blogspot.com/2021/07/a-look-at-model-horse-colors.html.

My Cotton-Headed Ninny Muggins horse was made by Enesco in 1987 but I have never bothered to look for more information on it. I regret buying it, and I honestly do not like it. But, since I value model horses, I keep it tucked away in a corner of the china cabinet. It's behind some other pieces where I can't see it without doing some digging.

And there it is going to stay.

Stay 'tooned for tomorrow's prompt, A model that you would never let go. Got a couple of those!

December 2 - Yuletide Cheer Photo Challenge

 Today's prompt? A model from/because of a friend. Oh, wow. What do I choose? After thinking about it, I went for sentimental pieces, and boy howdy, these pieces are.

A Wade Whimsey Circus Horse

I've mentioned my best hobby friend, Kathy Bateman, before. Kat and I go way back to the early 1990s and we attended many BreyerFests and live shows together. There was no one I'd rather go to a live show with. (That's still true.)

Kat knew how much I loved teaching. She also knew how much I loved circus horses and ponies. So, when health issues necessitated an earlier retirement from teaching than I'd hoped for, she sent me this gift.

 The full story behind this gift horse can be found here.

Sadly, Kat passed away unexpectedly earlier this year. Her death hit me hard on many levels. Not only was she a dear friend, but I had a high level of respect for her. I have never written her back story here and I won't now, but Kathy overcame a lot of major challenges in her life. She was resilient, she was intelligent, she worked hard, and she never gave up. Well done, Kat! And oh, how I miss you, dear friend.

A Custom Abby & Two Socks

In an odd and fortuitous quirk of timing, Betz Everitt contacted me in Fall of 2023 and said she was working on a gift for me and asked if I minded if she painted Abby.

Mind?? Not at all - what a lovely thing to do!

And not only did she paint Abby, she painted Two Socks, too! (This is the perfect mold for that girl - she was so full of life.)

In light of the fact that both would tragically die in less than a year, this gift was an incredible coincidence of timing.

A few weeks before the lightning strike that took both horses' lives, I showed mini Abby at Midwest Model Mayhem and Betz's gift to me is now NAN qualified.

Betz, I have loved these pieces since the day they arrived here, but they are even more meaningful now that both horses are gone. I am so very grateful for your two gifts and keep both of them on the shelf right behind me as a constant reminder of two beloved horses and a very thoughtful friend. Thank you. xo

More about these two can be found in this blog post.

Tomorrow's Yuletide photo prompt is "Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins: a purchase you made on a whim." Hmmmm... Let's see. That will be hard because I have NEVER done that... 😇 

Stay 'tooned!

A Final Thanksgiving Mish Mosh

Second Post of the Day

When you have so many people (and dogs) together, there is a lot to record in your journal. So, enter another mish mosh post - snippets and bits from what our family did that I want to remember.

The Family Turkey Trot

Although maybe that's more the KIDS' turkey trot. It was a very cold morning.

The race was held in Curt and Vanessa's neighborhood on the walking path that goes right by their home.

And they're off!

The short course winners!

The long course winner! (Julie runs cross country for her school.)

The short course enthusiasm winners!

Leaf Raking - the Kids' Service Project

Vanessa had noticed that her neighbors had not been able to get their leaves raked up and so invited all the kids to join her in a service project on Wednesday morning.

They didn't have enough rakes but snow shovels worked just as well!

Susie taking a quick leap into the pile.

Everybody jumping in the leaves!

It was a good activity that helped others and let the kids get some energy out.

Some time ago, Vanessa came up with an idea to get her kids to clean their rooms. She films them standing in there, looking around at the mess, and then snapping their fingers, jumping, etc.

Then when the room is clean, she films them like that and puts the two videos together. It looks like they just snapped their fingers a la Mary Poppins and the job is done! Needless to say, it is a big encouragement for the kids and their rooms get cleaned quickly.

She did the same with the leaf raking activity. Fun!

Wicked

I had a ticket to see Wicked with the family. I also had a migraine and ended up staying home.

Several family members decided to get dressed for the show.

Titan has done so many musicals, he is well versed in putting on stage make-up. He helped Vanessa with her green face.

A flying monkey, Ga-linda with a Ga, Elphaba, and Ga-linda again.

Two Elphabas!

I hear the movie was very good and they had a lot of fun together.

Playing Dirty Santa

A family tradition that is done every year. Everyone over 18 brings a gift, names are drawn, gifts are opened and then swiped and swiped again. 

The under 18s are shooed upstairs to play with games and activities set out for them. But they always end up watching and laughing with us.

Curt won a bag of bird seed and a bird feeder - he just happened to be wearing a bird shirt, too!

Jenny won Lisa's gift - a hat that has two solar powered fans in it. Those fans really work - Craig was gifted one himself last summer by Lisa.

The kids did eventually lose interest in what the adults were doing and got started on the upstairs activities.

A mapping game that took some sleuthing to figure out.

Making Froot Loop turkeys and necklaces plus some origami.

The Coleman Celebration (heavy on Elsie Mae, of course)

Sarah and Todd moved to Bozeman, Montana in August. Trinity graduated as a nurse from the University of Iowa and got a job in a hospital in Billings, Montana. JC, Jayci, and baby Elsie Mae live in Rexburg, Idaho while they go to school. Elsie Mae is just a month old and so their families stayed in the west and gathered at an airbnb in Rexburg.

Sarah and Elsie Mae playing Skip-bo.

Trinity's turn to hold her niece!

They also celebrated Sarah's birthday while together. (Sarah's grandma name is "Gimmy" as in, "Gimme that baby!")

Blowing out the candles.

A long standing family joke (running 26 years now) is Todd's creative cutting capabilities. It all started with a pizza before they were married and continues on to today. "Sarah likes icing!" he said by way of explanation when he cut her piece of cake this way.

Todd, Elsie Mae, and some of Blue. LOL

JC, Elsie Mae, and Oquirrh.

Their family gathering for Thanksgiving.

Home

And finally, a photo Jessie took as her family drove through Illinois on their way to Indiana.

Our family home in Urbana. We lived there 18 years. I was glad to see that whoever lives there now is caring for it and that it looks so good. (It's at least 50 years old now.)

I am pretty sure that that is the last of the Thanksgiving photos. What a wonderful time we had being together and how I look forward to our next gathering.

December 1 - Yuletide Cheer Photo Challenge

First Post of the Day

Today's challenge photo was easy peasy - the first model in my collection. I already had lots of pictures taken of my sweet Brownie.

Santa gave him to me in 1963. I was six years old and Santa had no idea (s)he had just started a collection that would span a lifetime and number in the thousands.

Brownie is what collectors call a Japan china. And while he was beloved (and still is), in the hands of a six year old the breaks came easily.

All those breaks were lovingly fixed by my father using the yellow drippy glue from his workbench. Each of those gloppy lines is a reminder to me of how patient and loving my dad was as he fixed Brownie again and again without complaint.

I memorialized Brownie the following Christmas in a crayon drawing of receiving him on that Christmas Day. That's me holding him and my have-glue-will-fix-him-sweetie dad sitting in the chair.

Brownie even made it into Nancy Kelly's book, Exploring the Model Horse Hobby.

A poignant childhood memory of Brownie is from when I was sick with either the mumps or measles. (I had mumps, measles, and then chicken pox all in the space of six weeks.) I may have been young, but the memories are very, very strong because I was so sick. I remember lying in bed, not wanting to move, and holding Brownie in my arms as I lay there.

Several years ago I received a second Brownie from Heather McCurdy at a Great Lakes Congress show.

She had read Nancy's book and knew how important Brownie was to me. While out thrifting, Heather had found a mint one, bought it, and gifted it to me. New Brownie stands next to Original Brownie in the china cabinet in my living room and is a lovely reminder of the kindness of a hobby friend.

Tomorrow's prompt is "A model from/because of a friend." I may let New Brownie cover tomorrow, too. We shall see.

Stay 'tooned!